[10/-] al-Kafi: Ali b. Ibrahim from his father from Ibn Abi Umayr from Mansur b. Yunus from Mansur b. Hazim from Abi Abdillah عليه السلام who said: the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وآله said: there is no suckling after weaning, there is no joining [two consecutive days] in fasting, there is no orphanhood after nocturnal emission, there is no vow of silence from morning to night, there is no return to the nomadic ways after migration [to the urban center of faith], there is no Hijra after the conquest [of Makka], there is no divorce before marriage, there is no setting free [of a slave] before ownership, there can be no oath from a child without the consent of his father, nor from a slave without the consent of his master, nor for a woman without the consent of her husband, there can be no promise to do an evil, nor an oath to break blood-ties.

The meaning of his words: there is no suckling after weaning is that – a child if he drinks the milk of a woman after he has been weaned off milk [two years] then that suckling does not prevent marriage [she does not become his Mahram/foster mother].

Comments

The last statement is either the words of the Imam interpreting what the prophet said, one of the narrators in the chain, or the author of al-Kulayni himself.

The Hadith itself contains pithy legal maxims from the prophet which were easy to memorize and were a particularly important source of guidance in daily life. They summarize whole sections of the Law in a few words. Identical maxims have also been preserved in the two early Musannafs, those of Abd al-Razzaq and Ibn Abi Shayba [further confirming the fact that the Ahl al-Sunna have not wholly lost the prophetic legacy]. I have also found fragmentary traces of the some of the maxims in Sunan Abi Dawud.

Vows of silence as taken by past communities like Buddhists and monks in monasteries have no significance in Islam.

The concept of “returning to the nomadic ways after migration” is understood in its modern context as moving to a place where one cannot practice his religion and is under constant temptation of sin.

There can be no “promise to do an evil” means that one is not supposed to give any credence to a promise which involves committing a sin to fulfill it, in fact such a promise has no value and should be ignored. Similarly, one cannot uphold an oath that calls on him to break ties of blood relationship.